MEETING OF THE
CITY OF
CONNELL,
The regular semi-monthly meeting, of the City Council of
the City of
ROLL CALL
PRESENT:
Mayor
STAFF:
City Administrator
VISITORS:
Jack Olson, Larry Hueter, Sam Harris, Scott Frakes, DOC; Bob Koch,
Franklin County Commissioner; Feathers Thompson; Burl Booker; and Kathy Bingham,
Franklin County
CORRESPONDENCE
1)
AWC –
2) Benton Franklin Community Action Committee – Request for the City of Connell to appoint a member to the Oversight Committee for Franklin County to oversee the local housing trust fund.
3)
John White – Resigned from the
4)
American Payroll Association – Asked for the City’s support in
designating
5)
6)
Jim Freeman – Requesting information for a guide book he was putting
together of roadside attractions, festivals and local hot spots for
7) Vacancy on Planning Commission – Received four names of interested individuals. Councilmembers Boyer and Klindworth to review and make a recommendation.
8)
Swim Team – The Connell Swim Team received the 17th Annual
Toppenish Rotary Silver Division third place award at the regional competition.
CONSENT
CALENDAR
Motion:
Councilmember Pruett moved to approve the Consent Calendar as listed.
a)
Minutes of the
b)
Warrant Register for
c)
Warrants for
d)
Payroll for
e)
Motion to adopt Ordinance No. 802 Prohibiting Fowl
f)
Motion to adopt Ordinance No. 809 amending Chapter 16, Utility
Company Certificates.
Councilmember
Boyer seconded motion. Motion
carried unanimously.
CITIZEN
COMMENT/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
Councilmember Pruett expressed that several people had approached her about not being in favor of the quiet zone designation in regards to the train whistle and would like to see the train whistle kept.
Councilmember Quinton also expressed that she had received comments in regards to the train whistle and quoted someone who said “A little piece and quiet was not worth a life”. Councilmember Quinton described that there had been a couple of times when she was at the crossing when the arms had not come down and the train was right there.
Councilmember Mosbrucker noted that it was basic driver safety to look both ways when crossing the rail road track.
Councilmember Klindworth suggested that those opposed to the quiet zone run for council to vote against it.
Moving on to a different topic, Councilmember Klindworth inquired about the status of the CRCC 200 bed impact.
City Administrator Tackett provided that staff from Anderson Perry would be meeting with staff from DOC and the City to resolve the Equivalent Dwelling Unit (EDU) issue.
APPROVAL OF
AGENDA
Motion:
Councilmember Mosbrucker moved to approve the agenda with the correction of Item
No. 16 being moved to 15 as there was no Item 15 in the Agenda Packets.
Councilmember Pruett seconded motion. Motion
carried unanimously.
ORDER OF
BUSINESS
CRCC – PHASE I NORTH END WATER MAIN PROJECT
In
a memo from
The Department of Health requirements for the temporary potable water system for use for the DOC construction trailers had been presented to DOC but the system had not yet been installed by the contractor.
During the excavation for the waterline Pegram encountered rock, this would require a change order. Pegram also asked for additional contract days due to impact of rock excavation. The contract was slated to be completed by August 2nd but now looked like it would not be completed until August 11.
ORDINANCE NO. 806 - CREATING FUND #111
City Clerk Treasurer Eckman requested Council consider creating a fund to place any revenue generated within the next several years from sales tax on the prison expansion and related activities, and that was not used to balance the budget nor restricted from general use, into that fund to be held in the investment portfolio. This would safeguard a revenue source for the General Fund, which had been eroded by initiatives, for future years. The interest generated from this investment would provide a steady revenue source for the General Fund, it would not totally cover the revenue lost due to the initiatives but would provide some relief.
City Clerk Treasurer Eckman read proposed Ordinance No. 806.
Motion: Councilmember Klindworth moved to adopt Ordinance No. 806 establishing fund No. 111. Councilmembers Quinton and Mosbrucker seconded motion. Motion carried unanimously.
ORDINANCE NO. 808 – AMENDING ORD NO. 789 2006 FY BUDGET ADOPTION
City Clerk Treasurer Eckman advised that whenever there was activity known to affect the adopted budget it was necessary to do a budget amendment prior to the actions that would impact the budget as adopted. There were three funds that needed to be amended.
Fund #108 Contingency Fund – RCW 35.33.145 restricted the Contingency Fund to .375 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation of the City. Connell’s 2006 assessed valuation was $106,720,434. According to the formula ($106,720,434 ÷ 1000 x 0.375 = $40,020.16 ) the fund had more than what was allowable so the excess would need to be transferred out into the General Fund.
Fund # 204 Property Debt Redemption – The Council adopted Resolution No. 2006-07 at the previous council meeting and directed the City Clerk Treasurer to pay off the loan with Community First Bank by utilizing capital reserve funds on an interfund loan basis. Those funds where transferred into Fund #204 in order to pay off the loan as directed. The increased expenditures of the fund over the amount authorized in the 2006 budget necessitated this amendment.
FUND NO. 403 Solid Waste Department – In 2005 $6,000 was not transferred to the capital reserve as budgeted due to cash flow restrictions. In order to catch up with the intended contribution to the reserve fund it is necessary to increase those transfers by the $6,000 for the 2006 budget.
The total amendment to the budget was $322,650.00.
City Clerk Treasurer Eckman read proposed Ordinance No. 808.
Motion:
Councilmember Pruett moved to adopt Ordinance No. 808 amending the 2006 Fiscal
Year Budget. Councilmember Boyer
seconded motion. Motion carried
unanimously.
ORDINANCE NO. 810 – CREATING FUND NO. 103
City Clerk Treasurer Eckman reported that the State Auditors pointed out
that the current Community Policing Fund (Fund No. 631) was not codified back in
1995 when Ordinance No. 655 was passed. The
fund has evolved to the point where the fund number needs to be changed to meet
the guidelines reflective of the funds’ diverse activities.
All programs from the old fund (Fund No. 631) would be carried over into
the new fund (Fund No. 103) and the old fund would be discontinued.
City Clerk Treasurer Eckman read proposed Ordinance No. 810.
Motion:
Councilmember Mosbrucker moved to adopt Ordinance No. 810 creating Fund No.
103. Councilmember Quinton seconded
motion. Motion carried unanimously.
MEETING
RECESSED
Mayor Walton recessed the
regular meeting at
MEETING
RECONVENED
Mayor Walton reconvened the regular meeting at
PROPERTY
This item was discussed in Executive Session with no action taken.
PUBLIC WORKS – TEMPORARY PERSONNEL CONTRACT
City Administrator Tackett discussed the potential for contracting with Larry Seibel, formally with Anderson Perry, to carryout some of the duties of Public Works Director during the time that the City was seeking a replacement for Mr. Munyan. The contract would be for six months. The City would not pay Mr. Seibel for benefits nor for travel. Mr. Seibel would be responsible for paying his own taxes.
Councilmember Klindworth inquired as to how many hours Mr. Seibel would put in as the contract stated that he would work for four days a week.
Council suggested it be stated that he work no less than 40 hours a week.
Motion:
Councilmember Boyer moved to enter into a Public Works Temporary personnel
contract with Larry Seibel with the change from 4 days a week to no less than 40
hours a week and to authorize Mayor Walton sign the agreement. Councilmember
Pruett seconded motion. Motion
carried unanimously.
TIB & CDBG GRANT APPLICATIONS
City Administrator Tackett reported that the recently passed
Transportation Improvement Program included two projects,
The City Match for the TIB projects would be about $100,000 a piece. The grants would be approximately $550,000 for a total for each project of approximately $650,000. The amount for the CDBG grant was approximately $750,000, a match for that project was not required but if available the City should participate in order to improve its chances of funding.
Motion:
Councilmember Quinton moved to authorize staff to proceed with the preparation
of the TIB and CDBG grant applications.
Councilmember Mosbrucker seconded motion.
Motion carried unanimously.
FIRE DISTRICT
Mayor Walton advised that the Fire District had not had time to review the updated contract and suggested that the Fire District review it at their next meeting.
Council discussed the need to have some type of temporary agreement or understanding until such time that a contract was signed.
Motion:
Councilmember Pruett moved to enter into a temporary agreement with Franklin
County Fire District to pay $250 per hour per brush truck for fires within city
limits, and to pay for personnel. Councilmember
Klindworth seconded motion. Motion
carried unanimously.
COMMITTEE /
DEPARTMENT REPORTS
CITY CLERK TREASURER’S REPORT – City Clerk Treasurer
City Clerk Treasurer Eckman advised that ASP, the software company that the City was currently using, had been sold to Harris. Harris would continue to support the ASP software for a while. The ASP software was DOS based where the software available from Harris was windows environment. City Clerk Treasurer Eckman requested Council authorization to work with Harris to convert the City’s software system after
the first of the year.
The estimated cost for this would be between $30,000 to $35,000. The
hardware the City currently had should be compatible except for the dot matrix
printers. In researching several other soft wares throughout the area for
municipal government there was not much out there. Many of the communities
throughout
Council
consensus was to allow Joan to proceed in obtaining more information to be
brought back to council.
CITY ATTORNEY’S REPORT – City Attorney
Discussed that in the past the Court had been able to have certain traffic violation tickets waved in lieu of a donation to the City. There was some controversy on this issue but there was nothing that prohibited it from being done. The City could adopt a program that would allow this and specified the circumstances where this could be done. The money would go towards the Connell Policing Fund.
CONNELL POLICE DEPARTMENT – Police Chief Rick Rochleau
1) Summer had been good.
2) Still working on getting rid of old cars and weeds.
3) Would be dealing with chickens, would contact those that were known to have them, after that would have to go by complaints.
CITY ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT – City Administrator
Motion:
Councilmember Klindworth moved to authorize City Administrator Tackett to attend
the first AWC legislative meeting. Councilmember
Pruett seconded, motion carried unanimously.
MEETING
ADJOURNED
There being no further business
to be heard before the City Council, Mayor Walton adjourned the meeting at